Queensryche’s new album, Condition Human (due Oct. 2 on Century Media), examines gritty aspects of the human experience, like enduring love, heartbreak, fury and bewilderment.
Throughout its career, Queensryche has explored the human condition in its lyrics. The 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime told the fictional story of a junkie who becomes a political assassin in hopes of saving America, only to be betrayed by the revolutionary who promised him redemption. 1994’s deeply introspective Promised Land was fueled by the band’s disillusionment and confusion stemming from feeling unsatisfied after achieving commercial success.
2009’s American Soldier weighed the emotional difficulties experienced by personnel in the armed forces, like isolation, post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor’s guilt. With such a history behind it, it’s not too surprising that Queensryche’s new album, Condition Human (due Oct. 2 on Century Media), examines gritty aspects of the human experience, like enduring love, heartbreak, fury and bewilderment.
“Each song individually is its own story, which does not have to directly relate to the next song,” explains singer Todd La Torre. “However, each song is harmonious to a larger picture, which is the human experience, mortality and how each of us perceives the world around us based on our own observations and experiences, thus shaping human behavior.”
The songs are “all about experiences that we had had recently in our travels around the world doing shows for the last few years,” adds drummer Scott Rockenfield. “Some songs there’s personal aspects to ’em, and some are observations that we have seen with people and events, so we started to realize that a lot of this is about the human condition … [But] we’re not trying to sell anything here by any means. It was more observation.” For instance, the track “Guardian” “touches on the empowering qualities of strength in numbers, and how people can rise up to create real change,” says La Torre. “Movements are evident across the globe in varying degrees, ranging from ideological perspectives and how they relate to cultures, socioeconomic differences and its effects, human rights, etc. It is an anthem that supports people standing up for rights and values that may be infringed upon on the micro and macro level. It’s a single thread that surrounds a multifaceted topic of being human, human relationships relating to others and the world that surrounds us. Good, bad or indifferent, change is possible, but is only as strong as its relativity to perception, which perhaps is the very foundation and basis for the initiation of change.”Source: http://www.billboard.com/
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